And So It Begins: 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR, one and all!

As the first day of the new year draws to a close, I have the shaky stability of a new colt. I’m not quite settled into 2012 yet. It will probably be weeks before I correctly write the date on a document. I’m still in awe of how quickly this last year passed. I haven’t crystallized my intentions for the coming months – where I wish to go, what I intend to accomplish. So many of the facets of my life reflect a different light now than they did 12 months ago, I have no idea what outlook to expect as I contemplate future reflections, and I must laughingly admit that I’m entirely okay with this state of affairs. As long as there are many facets to my life, and they reflect the light, I am content.

I am content.

I hope your 2012 unfolds to let pleasure touch every facet of your life. I look forward to sharing with you whatever may come.

xo -em

Blooming Mondays: Unexpected Greenery

Blooming Mondays: Unexpected Greenery (green mums & cattails, 10.24.11)

I simply couldn’t resist this surprising bit of greenery at the market this weekend.

Don’t you just love the unexpected?

Matches Struck Unexpectedly In The Dark

striking the match

Lindsey over at A Design So Vast drew my attention to a gorgeous Virginia Woolf quote. I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised that Woolf’s message moved me. After all, “To The Lighthouse” was one of my favorite books when I was growing up and it was mostly sentiment over story.

I am struck by the gift in Woolf’s words.

“What is the meaning of life? … a simple question; one that seemed to close in on one with the years. The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.”

I used to attend only to the romance in Woolf’s phrases. Now, I understand her nuggets of truth.

Tell me if this ever happens for you, too…

The little bursts of illumination that occur randomly on any given day keep catching me by surprise. I find myself so delighted, amused, even (frequently) flummoxed by them that the overwhelming meaning-of-life query about which Woolf speaks, and which used to plague me with uncertainty and a spinning head, is of less importance.

For this moment, I don’t need the answer to any grand question. I just want to keep playing in the sumptuous darkness of life’s mysteries, and clapping in glee with every strike of the proverbial match that brings kaleidoscopes of light to the dance.

Have you ever been in a similar place?

Blooming Mondays: Old Is New Again

Blooming Mondays: Old Is New Again (rose, 10.10.11)

Roses. They just never grow old, do they?

These are strange days in my life. I’m in a current of change – experiencing moments I never thought I’d have, appreciating anew qualities I used to find mundane and actually enjoying my time smelling the proverbial roses. It’s a very strange current but I’m loving being in it. I simply hope that if there are rapids ahead, I ride them well.

Take a minute to be in the moment… just a friendly suggestion. :)

It’s Still About The Girl Effect

Back in 2009, I was floored by an incredibly powerful video that perfectly communicated a belief I hold dear – girls are the key to peace, prosperity and stability in the world and the fragility of their position in society around the globe must be bolstered. Not much has changed in the intervening two years. Girls are still the key. The social, economic and political position of girls still needs to be strengthened significantly. And the Girl Effect is still incredibly powerful messaging.

As a white, middle-class, American girl, I grew up in privilege compared to the majority of girls in our world. Even so, I remember being told by an advisor that I should take statistics instead of calculus because “math is hard for girls.” I remember being questioned incessantly by the long-married girls my age in a Turkish town; they were highly suspicious of my intelligence for remaining unmarried and traveling by myself at 22. I remember the story my mother told me of how her highschool guidance counselor refused to submit her application to Stanford because attendance at a university like that would diminish her prospects for a good husband and happy life. I remember how the visiting Econ professor in college would only take questions from the raised hands belonging to men. I share these moments with you not to equate my condition with that of others but rather to connect the dots along of spectrum of experience, to form a thread of compassion and commitment. I have a privileged life. Girls everywhere deserve the same. And eventually, hopefully, being a girl – anywhere – won’t have any strings attached. The world will be that much more amazing for it.

I believe in the Girl Effect.

  • 1 more year of primary school boosts a girl’s eventual wages 10-20%; a year of secondary school boosts it 15-25%.
  • women reinvest 90% of their income into their families; men reinvest 30-40% of their income into their families.
  • of the approximately 130 million youths not in school, 70% are girls.
  • 1 in 7 girls in developing countries marries before age 15.
  • 75% of those aged 15-24 living with HIV in Africa are girls.

These sobering statistics, and more, can be found at GirlEffect.org.